


The Mission

by iluvaqt



Series: DC & Marvel: Nightingale [6]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Smallville
Genre: Coma, F/M, Mutant Powers, Pre-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-27
Updated: 2015-09-27
Packaged: 2018-04-23 15:38:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4882387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iluvaqt/pseuds/iluvaqt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve sees Chloe use her powers for the first time and doesn't react well. Set prior to Captain America: The Winter Soldier</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mission

Their first rescue Op together and it was going badly. The political unrest made it extremely difficult to investigate at night. The enforced curfew was for the safety of everyone. It didn't matter what kind of credentials you had, anyone was a target after dark. Extremist groups had taken to guerrilla warfare tactics to get their point across. And the organized crime groups were making the most of all the disarray, preying on local businesses and individuals alike for money and resources.

They were on the ground for one missing S.H.I.E.L.D agent, who had been posing as a journalist to investigate a diplomat in the Prime Minister's party who had suspected ties to The Mandarin. Last report said she had solid intelligence and then she had disappeared.

Fury had tasked Steve and Chloe to find her and recover the Intel, covertly. They couldn't get caught. They were hoping that the agent's cover was still intact and that the government was unaware that S.H.I.E.L.D was investigating. An hour later, with local drug cartel thugs manhandling her to their base of operations, Chloe was pissed off and itching to crack some heads together.

Her plan found their agent, but turns out she was working an angle and let herself get taken so that she could foil an attempt to assassinate the Prime Minister. Word in the underground was that some fringe radicals with influence weren't happy he wasn't as easy to manipulate as they had been led to believe.

So they found themselves again getting fired at by local authorities and being chased by guns for hire for blowing up their weapons stash and they we currently trying to get reception so they could get S.H.I.E.L.D to relay their information to local Intelligence to prevent the assassination bombing. Steve blowing up their weapons might have put a rush on their timetable.

Steve and Agent 26 were providing cover, while Chloe tried to get satellite coverage. It was a little difficult when you were trying to stay low, so as to not get shot, while being boxed inside a signal dead zone.

"I'm going for the building, cover me."

Steve nodded grimly, his eyes stormy and his jaw set. She could almost hear him grinding his teeth in frustration over their position. The man worried and stressed over her more than Clark, it was both endearing and infuriating. How could they not comprehend the shoe on the other foot perspective? Of course she understood the risks. She worried just as much over their safety every day they suited up and even in civilian down time, over whether one of their many enemies would recognize them and decide to make remuneration for all the nefarious plans they'd foiled.

Someone chose to throw a Molotov at that moment and she only had a second to react before it would get too close to deflect. She shot it before it could reach her position. The resulting explosion ignited the fuel that was leaking from an abandoned car, setting the whole thing ablaze and blinding their sight. In the resulting commotion, she heard Agent 26 cry out.

Knowing she'd been hit, Chloe abandoned her position over to where she'd last seen Steve and their operative. She wasn't getting any coverage from her position anyway. She needed to find a better spot to get a signal.

She slid down a drain pipe with her pack on her back. There was more gunfire and she had to dive for cover to reach the spot where Steve and their fellow agent were hidden.

"Did you get through?"

Chloe shook her head. "We're on our own."

"We're pinned down. The police barricade are falling back but we're on the mob end. I can break through and end the rioting but it will mean exposure."

His iconic shield was covered by a Kevlar special reinforced weave with a matt-black camouflage finish. The powder burns had started to damage the cover and pretty soon it would start catching light and giving away their position not to mention who they worked for.

"Chloe, you've got to let me finish this," the dark haired woman said through clenched teeth. The rifle round had gone clean through her right shoulder and it was bleeding freely. "This is my world, I know you don't like how I operate but it's the only way to get things done."

"You should have come to me sooner," Chloe growled in return.

"Wait a minute. I thought you were S.H.I.E.L.D." Steve was confused.

Andrea winked at him. "When I feel like being a team player. They know what I do and how to find me, but they don't dictate my missions. Patch me up, and I'll get this to a man I can trust. I’ll keep them busy long enough for you to make a break for it."

Steve looked at Chloe. "That is not the mission." When Chloe wouldn't meet his eyes, Steve grabbed her elbow. "We get our operative, we get the Mandarin Intel and we get out."

"You should know better than anyone, that on paper things are different than in the field. Blowing up their weapons wasn't part of the mission," she pointed out.

"Neither was getting caught and interrogated," he said his cheek developing a sudden tick and his eyelid was twitching, showing just how stressed he was getting.

Oh he was pissed, Chloe knew it, didn't take a genius to figure that out.

His brows were pinched and he was eyeing her split lip where her teeth had cut it open after one of the cartel thugs had backhanded her. She knew she also had bruising on her throat where one tried to choke her into giving up who she was working for before she'd been able to signal Steve that she'd found Andrea. There was no way she was going to mention the bruising on her stomach where two of them had decided to use her as a kick bag while they waited for their boss to show up to see the latest merc to stick her nose where it didn't belong.

"Please don't freak out, okay. I promise you can ask me whatever you want later." She looked at him imploringly and waited for his nod before she turned to Andrea. It didn't matter how many times she tried to mentally prep. herself, she was never ready for the transference and as the sharp pain of the wound passed to her while she healed Andrea, a tear leaked out and she bit down on her lip to keep from making any sound, but a small pant still escaped. After she felt the pain she was drawing on ebb, she pulled away. A wave of dizziness hit her. Damn, she forgot to account for the blood loss. Steve's arms came around her and she felt the solid warmth of his chest against her back.

Steve glared at Andrea. "You get yourself hit, walk it off. I won't be letting her do that again," he snarled at her.

Andrea saluted him with a sultry smirk. "Got it, Captain. Chloe has the Intel on the Seven Rings connection. I can handle this. Look after Mama Bear."

Steve watched the woman slip on a black mask and tie her hair back. She shed the bulky outer layers she had been wearing to reveal a tight black catsuit. Then she launched herself straight up into the night. From the screams of surprise and the sounds of metal being crushed and pained shouts and more gunfire he could only guess that Andrea was kicking ass and breaking bones.

"Angel of Vengeance is doing what she does best," Chloe said weakly.

Steve up his arm under hers and helped her stand. "We are moving out. Can you walk?"

"I'm good," Chloe protested. The pain was already gone and her legs were steady now. He shot her a look of hurt when she pulled away from him but Chloe ignored him and picked up the gear she'd dropped to heal Andrea.

"Moving out," she affirmed and waved him on to lead the way.

::: ::: :::

The Quinjet ride back to the Triskelion was an uncomfortably silent one. Chloe was doing her best not to show how badly she was still hurting. Absorbing Andrea’s wounds on top of her own, the extent of which she still wasn’t sure about yet probably wasn’t the smartest call she’d ever made.

They had to made their way to the U.S. Embassy where they’d caught an armored escort to the desert pick up site. Steve hadn’t said a word to her yet but he kept giving her these looks that were making her edgy.

Like he was trying to figure her out, or worse, that he looked at her differently. It was obvious his confidence in her was shaken. Yes, she may have omitted details of this operation but they weren’t key details. Andrea’s powers weren’t integral to the mission, finding her and recovering the Intel before her cover was compromised was the only objective.

They finished a secure video link debrief with Director Fury, and Chloe uploaded the micro drive, Andrea had given her.

“I take it Agent 26 is not returning with you.”

“No, sir. When we left her, she was busy subduing cartel thugs and rioters. She was going to work with her local contact to ensure the Prime Minister is warned about the assassination plot and she then was going to follow the money trail to the party responsible for the hit.” Chloe felt the urge to cough and ducked her head, covering her mouth with her elbow to catch the spray. She swallowed back what she suspected might be blood and wiped her mouth with her sleeve to make sure that nothing showed. “Sorry, sir.”

“Your work and that of your team is appreciated, Sullivan. Captain,” he said acknowledging Steve at her shoulder. “I’ll have our analysts get to work on this. The Committee wants an update by the end of the week on the current operations of all the individuals on your roster, Agent Sullivan. They’d also like Superman to contact NATO about an assist in a cloaked orbiting defensive station for Earth. So next time we’re facing the threat of a hostile alien race, they won’t be able to attack our cities with their fly ships. Or be able to drag a planet into our obit.” He nodded to someone off screen and the feed ended.

“When were we in danger of being crushed by a planet?” Steve asked. His face betraying how frightening that thought was and how he could have possibly missed it. It hardly seemed like an isolated event.

“It happened while you were in the ice, Steve. A couple of years ago and alien Overlord tried to enslave the planet. Succeeded in infecting the hearts and minds of a lot of people, and had operatives on the ground for more than a year shepherding his plans. Superman and a few members of the Justice League managed to avert the crisis. He actually pushed the planet back through the portal that Darkseid had opened to bring his sulphur and ash, lava pit homeworld to cast our planet into darkness.”

“I would have thought something like that would have made big news.”

Chloe grimaced when a laugh bubbled up, she cut it short when she felt how much it would hurt to laugh. “Are people still talking about how the Avengers saved New York?”

Steve put his hands on the bulkhead over his head. With an audible sigh he conceded her point. “No.” The newsprint covered it for a week before moving on. The TV news stories and talk show interest lasted a little longer with interviews and coverage on the clean up and rebuild but within three months, from an outsider’s perspective it was as though the Chitauri Invasion had never happened. Or worse, that the Avengers were responsible for the devastation of the city. Even though they'd been the only ones determined not to let the population be wiped out by a S.H.I.E.L.D nuke or the Chitauries.

“Ma’am, we’ll be wheels down in about twenty minutes. You might want to strap in.”

Chloe disconnected her tablet from the communications array and put it back in her pack. She found a seat and settled in. She unwound her scarf and unzipped her jacket before she did up her restraints. She was overheating and she knew if she didn’t get checked out soon, she might find herself in trouble.

Steve watched her every movement. He didn’t know how bad they’d treated her when she let herself get taken. She’d posed a mercenary and approached locals looking for information on the location of her ‘missing’ reporter, feeling out all the wrong people in order to get the Cartel’s attention. There was bruising on her neck and he flinched, his fingers itching to touch her and check her over. But she had her walls firmly up. She said he could ask anything after they’d gotten out of there, but he didn’t get the impression she wanted to. He tried to remind himself of what Lois had said. That Chloe wasn’t used to opening up to anyone. That she was a vault of secrets. A lot of them not her own.

“Have you always been able to heal?” he probed quietly.

Chloe shot him a silencing look, her eyes darting pointedly to the pilot. “I’m field med trained, Captain. Being able to patch someone in a pinch so they can get back on mission is hardly worth a mention.”

Steve grit his teeth and balled his hands into fists. He knew she was just trying to cover, so that listening ears would be none-the-wiser but he was going positively insane with all he wanted to ask her.

The second they landed, he dragged her to a supply closet and shut them in. “Are you always so casual with your safety? Last time I checked, you’re not invulnerable.”

“We didn’t have a lot of time. Andrea lost her comm. That’s when I went to Fury for permission to investigate. I usually run my own Ops but my assets are all engaged. I couldn’t get on the ground quick enough and I knew I couldn’t do it without backup. I thought you would have been happy I asked for you.”

“Asked for me? Chloe, you say that like I was a last resort. I don’t know what you do, or where you go. I worry constantly that the next time you leave, it might be the last time I see you. I thought you were ready to start something after our vacation but since we’ve been back, I’ve seen you twice. And now this? Were you ever going to tell me about your gift?”

Chloe’s mouth dropped open. “You think it’s a gift? Steve, I wasn’t born this way. If I had a choice and there was a way I could end it without them tearing my heart out, believe me I’d sign it away this second.”

Steve stared at her. “Chloe, you can heal people. Have you ever thought about all the good you could do in the world? The lives you could change. Disease, terminal illness, cancers.. Chloe,” he implored her, his hand reaching for her.

Chloe hugged herself and stepped away. She couldn’t believe he didn’t understand what a curse it was. To have to make the choice, heal or not to heal. Who to save. How to explain the aftermath. The very real possibility that eventually her abilities would cause her to lose her mind like her mother.

The physician Oliver had put her in touch with - one that many of the team trusted with their secrets - told her that while the highest levels of radiation was concentrated around her heart, there was also a direct connection between her empathetic healing ability and the pain and sleep center of her brain. That conclusion was enough to feed her fear that there was a mental cost waiting at the end of the line. It might not be today, or even soon, but eventually this gift would turn ugly. And she’d seen the results of the meteor infected so many times and almost always, they were either murderous, or just crazy.

“Are you being serious? Steve, you chose to take the Serum. You wanted to become a Super Soldier. But I bet that even you didn’t realize the weight of that choice. The responsibility, the expectation, the obligation… everyone wanting something from you. And you’re beholden to the powers in charge because of what you feel you owe them. During the war you mentioned being held by HYDRA and that they took your blood for their experiments. Just imagine what someone could do with mine. And here's a better nightmare, what could the wrong person do with my ability? You of all people say men shouldn’t play God. I wish I could say it was a simple choice. I can’t watch the people I love suffering and do nothing but every time I do, there’s a cost. I feel everything and I take everything. Don’t stand there and judge me. That I’m not doing enough. You think you had it tough being jabbed a few times, studied and poked, donate a few pints of blood for research. Imagine being subjected to all kinds of invasive operations and crude testing, deprived of simple human rights. You’ve seen those HYDRA labs. They’re not the only ones out there with the corner market on human experimentation.”

Steve paled as he thought of Chloe in that position. Hooked up to machines, more hybrid than human, mutated beyond recognition, her mind poisoned with HYDRA propaganda, till there was no part of her soul left, but a shell to carry out orders. Or worse, a failed test subject in a body bag, tossed aside. So casually discarded. “I'm sorry, I didn't think,” he whispered, his voice pained.

Chloe felt hot tears on her cheeks. “I didn’t live through your war, Steve. But every day of my life since I woke up like this, has been a never ending battle to protect people like me from being turned into monsters and used as weapons because they’ve been left with no choice but to fall on the mercy of their captors. I can’t change what I am but I can choose how I live with it.”

Tired, shaking and on the verge of collapse, she left that small room. She saw the remorse on his face but she couldn’t deal with his guilt or whatever else it was that he could be feeling. Honestly, she it would have been smarter to have called Bart. He would have been the logical choice. His police investigation could have been put on hold for a few hours. Or he could have even just run her there and done a quick scout. He wouldn’t have questioned her decisions and his speed would have completed the operation in a quarter of the time it had taken them to find Andrea and uncover the assassination plot.

She had asked Fury for Steve because she missed him. With his being based in D.C. and her in New York, both of them working, she hadn’t seen him. He’d sent her letters which she had replied. He’d sent her a bunch of lilies which she thought was a really sweet gesture but as the weeks went by, it had felt like that trip away had happened to someone else, or that it was nothing more than a beautiful fantasy. One job with Mr. Eternally Grumpy in Gotham had bought her crashing back to reality. She really couldn’t blame Bruce for his perpetual dark mood though. His city was a seemingly endless mission to stamp out corruption, greed and rounding up psychos that thrived on anarchy and the suffering of others.

Her feet carried her to the lifts and once inside after her retinal scan was accepted, she hit the button for the floor she needed. It was blind luck and a gamble that Maria was working late. Last she’d spoken to Maria she was on rotation on the Helicarrier while Director Fury was in meetings in D.C. at the Pentagon.

Maria looked up from her desk, her pen falling from her mouth as she took in Chloe’s complexion and her dirty, dusty mercenary attire. Her eyes lingered on the dark stain near her elbow. “Did you get checked out?” She then put her tablet on her desk and came around to Chloe’s side quickly. “Forget I said that. Of course you didn’t. You really need to find someone you can trust, a medical professional, Chloe. I want to be here for you be we both know I can’t guarantee that.” She helped Chloe to the couch in her office and Chloe gingerly started pulling off layers while Maria frosted her office windows. It was only when Chloe tried lifting her arms over her head to get her shirt and top off, that she passed out.

Maria swore when she saw how black and blue, Chloe’s torso was. It was a patchwork of bruising and from the angry red flaring around the edges, she feared there was probably internal bleeding. With shaky fingers, she dialed the only person she could call who could get someone to her office in a flash. “Impulse, I need Dr. Hamilton now.”

The words barely left her lips before Chloe started to glow. Maria’s eyes darted to her windows. While the frosting gave her privacy, it wasn’t going to do anything about the light show that was going to take place. Had Chloe healed someone on top of the injuries she had sustained? The only time Maria had ever seen her glow this brightly, full body, golden flower power was when she brought someone back. Thinking quickly, she grabbed a throw from the end of the couch and put it over her. It didn’t do a lot to dampen the lights, but at least no one would wonder if she’d gone Supernova in her office.

A gust of wind at her back signaled the arrival of her guests. “Should I ask how you got past security?”

“Biometrics can’t keep up with speed. Although a few employees might be suffering whiplash,” Impulse joked before he spotted the glowing on taking up the length of the couch. “Licious. What’d you guys do to her this time? I swear we keep her safer than you do.”

Raising their arms to shield their eyes from the near blinding glow, they waited for the golden ferns of white flame to ebb. When they could see again, Chloe hadn’t moved. Maria checked her over. The bruising had vanished. Her skin was unblemished, and her pale complexion pinked out. Even the tense lines of fatigue and distress that had been obvious in her expression earlier had smoothed out. There was no trace of the weariness and pain she’d seen before. Chloe looked peaceful. Maria put her fingers to Chloe’s neck and breathed a sigh of relief to find a steady heartbeat.

“I wasn’t read in on her Op but I’m pretty sure this time it was one of yours. She was monitoring Vengeance.”

Impulse made a silent O and nodded at the rattled, wind ruffled doctor who was looking a little green and still clutching his medical case against his chest.

“What have I requested when travelling with you, Impluse?” Emil asked, sucking air through his nose and exhaling long and slow in an attempt to get his inertia under control.

“Brace the neck and gradual stop,” Impulse said sheepishly. “But we wouldn’t have gotten in the building otherwise.”

Maria had to bite her lip not to laugh again. “Doc, I think she’ll be okay, but I don’t know what triggered it this time. She was walking when she came in here and she certainly didn’t heal me.”

“Strange,” Emil said pulling his penlight from his pocket. He checked Chloe’s pupil response and the whites of her eyes, before pulling out an eye scope so he could check her retinas. “Was she lucid and walking on her own? You’re sure she didn’t brush up against someone on the way up? I don’t imagine she would unconsciously use her ability, that hasn't happened for years, but I never rule anything out unless I have all the evidence in front of me.”

Maria shook her head. “She didn’t say she had. I think this caught her off guard. She just collapsed after making it the couch. I didn’t get a chance to check her over properly before her ability triggered but it looked like she might have had internal bleeding.”

Emil took Chloe’s blood pressure and felt around her stomach and kidneys, and her throat before he stood up again. “It’s speculation for the moment, but Chloe’s body does heal at an accelerated rate but only while she’s asleep. It’s the first time that I’ve seen it happen like this though. This would be near instantaneous if what you’re describing about her condition is correct. But it's all we can go on for the moment. Is there somewhere secure we can set up? I’d like to monitor her and question her a little more when she comes around.”

Maria folded her arms and nodded. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll clear up a space for you to work. Stay with Chloe and don’t open the door.”

::: ::: :::

Steve felt sick to his stomach. He didn’t move from the supply closet for a long time after Chloe left. He wondered how he couldn’t have seen things from her perspective. He wanted to smack himself upside the head for not just waiting her out. He knew Chloe didn’t trust easily. He knew how strong her walls were, how carefully she guarded her personal life and her secrets.

It had been for good reason. She was absolutely right that people would try to exploit her. Even hurt her to get what they wanted. Some could even resort to hurting her loved ones to get her to cooperate, which is why he was angry that it seemed like Andrea had treated Chloe’s concern and her gift with such casual disregard. The woman had asked Chloe to heal her.

Steve raged inside picturing her parting smirk, drove his fist down on a shelf. The whole thing collapsed under the force of his blow, canisters, equipment and bits of shelving crashing to the floor. The noise was deafening in the small space but it didn’t completely drown out his scream of frustration. He pulled out the cellphone from his pocket. She was the only person he called with it but he kept it charged even though he hardly used it. He preferred to talk to her face to face, where he could see her eyes, watch her get animated with her hands and take in her smile. Hearing her but not holding her only made him miss her more. So he rarely called.

He waited as the call rang and rang. And then suddenly instead of the expected message prompt, a different tone came through. It sounded a little like a digitalized siren.

“The number you have called is not currently in service.”

His heart quickened and then skipped in his chest. Why would it be disconnected? Chloe never went anywhere without her phone. The only other time he hadn’t been able to reach her was after the Invasion and her friends had answered. She hadn’t called him back till hours later, and she’d been with Superman…

A frightening thought came to him. Phil had been mortally wounded by Loki. They had all believed that Agent Coulson had died from his wounds. It had given them a shove to put aside their petty grievances and work together to stop Loki and the Chitauri. Months later they find out that Agent Coulson is alive and well and running a special operations team.

He saw what she could do first hand tonight. He’d seen the cost too. He knew it in an instant that Chloe was the reason Special Agent Coulson was alive. Within S.H.I.E.L.D, Chloe was closest to Maria Hill and Phil Coulson. From what he knew about her past, she had been recruited by Phil and he was a mentor of sorts while Maria had trained her personally. Chloe said it herself, that she couldn’t watch someone she loved die. Her choice had put her out of contact for almost a day. Granted Agent Coulson’s wounds had been severe, yet he’d seen Agent 26’s wound. It had been bleeding profusely, it had obviously nicked an artery. If Chloe hadn’t healed her, they would have had to seal the wound with gunpowder to keep her from bleeding out.

Steve felt his stomach twist when he realized he hadn’t even checked her over. He knew Chloe. She never complained or made a fuss over herself. She could very well beaten and bloodied and on the verge of collapse and no one would be the wiser, unless they were watching her closely and knew her well enough to see the mask she used to cover the pain. Which he did damn it. He just thought it was due to her emotional defensiveness rather than physical pain. He was an idiot.

He fisted his hands in frustration, hearing the plastic casing of the phone crunch in protest. He quickly relaxed his grip, realizing that breaking it wouldn’t be a good idea. Since he realized there was someone he could call for help.

He called Maria’s number but there was no answer. He left a message and decided to ask someone if she was in the building. The reception desk, said she was in the building and offered to try her office. The man’s call yielded no response either.

“I can check the camera’s if it’s urgent, Captain.”

“No, son. It’s fine. I’ll just head up there myself. Thank you.”

“Not a problem, sir.”

Steve entered the elevator and pushed the button for Maria’s floor. Her office was on 37th floor. Director Fury’s office, and the W.S.C Committee briefing room was on the top floor.

The car seemed to get slower as it passed the 30th floor and as it ascended, it seemed to take longer and longer. It it felt like the car wasn’t moving at all. It seemed stuck at 34. Steve pushed out the maintenance hatch and pulled himself through. Above him, he could see slivers of bright light through the doors that led to the elevator exit above.

He dropping back through the hatch, he hit the emergency stop just so if the lift did decide to start working properly, he wouldn’t be in any danger of being crushed. Then he pulled himself back through and started to climb the maintenance rungs in the elevator shaft.

By the time he reached the doors, the mysterious light had disappeared. He shoved the doors open to meet the startled face of Maria Hill.

“Captain?”

“Elevator’s not working,” he said taking in her disarmed expression. “Everything all right up here? Couldn’t reach you on either of your numbers.”

Maria straightened. “Been a little busy,” she answered cryptically. “I guess it means I’ll have to take the stairs,” she said peering through the open doors at the elevator car that was frozen several floors below.

Light breaking over the horizon caught the metal frame of the elevator doors, and caused both of them to look out the window.

“What…” Maria glanced at her watch and then back outside. “I could have sworn it only just went 2200 hours.”

Steve looked at his watch. His hour hand was at a quarter to eleven.

The phone at her hip started beeping incessantly as message after message came through. The first was from Steve, a missed call and then messages from other departments, two from the Director. The last a very crass, "What the hell was going on in her office?" Apparently the entire floor was inaccessible, no cameras, no phone lines, no elevator access and the stairwell seemed to be sealed shut.

Frantically, Maria ran to the emergency exit and pushed the door open. Two floors down, she could see a whole STRIKE team in full assault gear and Fury with a scowl frozen on his face. “Hill?”

“Coulson sent me a care package that was not secured, Sir. I brought in a specialist and it’s under control.”

“You’re going to have to better than that, Hill. My office in five minutes. Alpha Team, stand down.”

Maria marched past Steve as she closed the door behind her. “I can’t explain anything to you, Captain. I don’t understand why we seem to have blanked out the last few hours but I do know that if I don’t think of something to satisfy Fury, he might have Agent Sullivan locked up in one of our more secure facilities. Until he is satisfied with a good answer for this."

“What has Chloe got to do with this?” Steve asked dropping all formality in his concern.

“Since this all started around the time she came to my office, everything.”

::: ::: :::

With Chloe unconscious and unable to give them any further information and the threat of exposure too great, Maria agreed that Chloe would be safer in the care of Dr. Hamilton and at the Justice League headquarters in Metropolis for the time being.

Impulse made short work of the travel arrangements and Maria went to see Director Fury.

After explaining her ruse for the benefit of the STRIKE Team, Nick agreed to give her time to find answers for Chloe’s new time altering ability.

From the moment Chloe had entered her office to the act of greeting Nick on the stairwell, they’d lost seven hours. Somehow Chloe had created a field that had slowed time to a crawl while the outside world ticked on as normal.

With more powered individuals cropping up all the time, Maria was doing her best to understand metahuman, or as some called them inhuman abilities. From what she could guess, Chloe’s ability seemed to center around empathic connection and some kind of transference. But with this new event, Maria wondered if there was another component or something they hadn't considered before. What if she wasn’t just absorbing pain, what if she was turning back time. After all, the person she healed was left with no scar. No trace that they’d ever been injured. And Chloe herself would bear no lasting evidence of a transference either. With the exception of ghost sensations of pain, and in Phil’s case, an extended coma there was no obvious downside. What had made this case different though. Why the time warp?

Steve hadn’t liked that they were lying or that they would be taking Chloe away, but he conceded when he realized that it was the only way to keep her safe for the time being.

In order to keep her location a secret, and her involvement with time anomaly at the Triskelion unknown, Steve stayed where he was. And continued working.

He wrote to Chloe every day hoping she was okay. According to Maria’s updates there was no change in her condition yet. She was still unconscious. It was more than a week. Lois called him too, told him to pray for Chloe to wake up. They could use some Divine intervention. He hadn't prayed in a long time. Not since his mother had passed. But he realized that there was never a better time to start again.

In his downtime he worked on the bike she had brought him. Using his hands, keeping them busy helped him focus. Kept him from going crazy and doing something risky like traveling to Metropolis and looking for the Justice League base.

In the mornings he got up to run a few laps around the Reflecting Pool and every time he stopped at the steps of the Lincoln Monument he remembered the first day back from their trip, having dinner and Chloe agreeing to be his girlfriend.

::: ::: :::

Three months ago.

“Things will change tomorrow,” she said softly.

Steve leaned back on the steps and reached over to take her hand in one of his. He rubbed his thumb over the top of her hand. The skin was soft and smooth beneath the rough of his fingers. His hand dwarfed hers, if he closed his hand, hers would disappear in his grasp. But those small hands were deceptively strong. And they were skilled, they could inflict pain, or they could make it disappear. He laced his fingers in hers and brought her fingers to his lips. His pressed a kiss against her knuckles. “Why?” he asked seriously. “Chloe, you’re not my CO. We don’t even work with the same people. When I as in the S.S.R special task force, they had husbands, wives, fiances, girlfriends working together. Sometimes they were even deployed in the same area.”

“It was War, Steve. They needed the numbers. They would have taken any able bodied person. Regulations have changed. S.H.I.E.L.D has a policy against liaisons between agents.”

Steve smirked at her a little. “Is that all we are? Sounds scandalous. I thought I was raised better than that. You really don’t know what we are, do you? What is it that you believe we’ve been doing, Chloe?”

Her cheeks coloured a little and she avoided his gaze, watching the city lights reflected in the water. “We’ve been living a fantasy. Tomorrow we rejoin the real world. I go back to New York, you’ll be here in D.C., until Fury decides he can use you.”

“And here I thought I was courting you,” he said tugging her closer. She fell into his arms and he held her against his chest, and kissed her hairline, the soft skin where that thin cut had once been but had miraculously healed. He felt her shift nervously at his attention but he wouldn't let her escape.

Realizing he wasn't about to let her go, Chloe tucked her head under his chin and breathed him in. She would miss being this close to him. From the first time she’d met him, she knew that it would be stupid to get her emotions involved in any capacity. Like Clark, his sense of duty, his powers meant that he would always put the safety of others above any desires he had for himself. The mission would always be first. His character too honorable to ever let corruption and evil threaten the lives of others while there was strength enough left in him to do something about it. Just like she chose this life for herself, she would never ask any of the them to sacrifice their choices or give up anything for her. The world needed men like Clark and Steve. They needed heroes like the Justice League and Captain America.

“Our jobs won’t let us be together, Steve. Deep down you know that. Can you imagine ever hanging up your shield?” His expression told her he wanted to protest and Chloe smiled, shaking her head. She reached up and kissed him to silence any empty promises. He was suitably ruffled and disorientated when she broke away. She found it completely baffling and heart wrenching that she had that effect on him. It tore at her inside that he could be so easily lost in her. It also proved just how much of a liability his affection for her could prove to be. She wouldn’t be his distraction, his Achilles Heel. They hadn’t exchanged I Love Yous but she knew how he felt about her. It was in his eyes. Steve didn’t shutter anything. Everything he thought and felt was on his face. And she had fallen in love with him.

She could even pinpoint the exact moment that she had lost her heart completely. They’d left Zionsville taking the I-75 on a slightly longer route back to Washington, neither of them in a rush for the vacation to end. They’d stopped Burnside Pit Reservoir for a picnic lunch. They’d just laid out the blanket when a commotion in the parking lot caught their attention.

“Zack, you didn’t. Honey, I just took you potty.”

They looked over to see a mother, struggling to wrangle three young children, a wheelie cooler and picnic equipment, all with another little one strapped in a carrier secured to her front.

“Tessa, I need you open the door and get your brother in while I change Zack.” She was busy collecting the youngest boy in her arms to get him inside, when the boy she’d charged the eldest child to watch dropped his ball and decided to chase it.

Another vehicle started reversing had it was obvious that the driver hadn’t spotted the boy. Chloe had never seen anyone move so fast. Well she knew Bart and Clark could move fast, but she’d never actually seen it happen. Steve vaulted over the logs separating the picnic area from the carpark and sprinted to where the child was running straight into the path of the reversing van. Steve snatched him up and turned, taking the hit. The van hadn’t been moving fast but the force knocked into Steve hard enough that it clipped his shoulder and made him stumble. But he had the child cradled close to his chest, protected and safe.

The mother had noticed her son run, and had yelled out for him but with her arms full of another child, and weighed down, she had no hope of stopping him in time.

The driver got out and was near incoherent with apology. Steve just waved him off, heading for the distraught mother still carrying her youngest son.

“Ma’am, he’s okay. Maybe a little shaken.”

“Thank you. Thank you, so much,” she said sniffling and babbling through her tears.

Steve noticed the dark patch on the youngest’s trousers. “I can help you get them buckled in while you change him.”

The mother looked between all her children and back at Steve. “But you’re hurt, and I… you’ve done enough. I couldn’t possibly impose on you.”

Chloe had gotten to her feet and joined them. “I’ll get everything into the trunk. I’m sure you just want to get home after all this. Let us give you a hand.”

The mother blinked back a fresh wave of tears. “He’s not usually so reckless. He’s tired and I should have been watching…”

Steve put a hand on her elbow. “Kids will do what kids do. Everyone’s safe. That’s what matters.”

She nodded biting her lip and then offered the shoulder bag she was carrying to Chloe. “If you get everything in the back, I’d appreciate it. Thank you both so much.”

Steve got the older kids buckled in with no pinched fingers or tummies like he’d been doing it for years. The mother still had to get her infant in and to do that, she had to leave the youngest standing inside the SUV while she buckled the baby in.

Chloe was small enough to squeeze through the space between the seats to buckle him into his chair in the rear of the vehicle. She had to get Steve to help her back herself out, there wasn’t enough space to turn around.

The mother thanked Steve again, impulsively hugging him. Steve flustered and awkwardly patted her back while Chloe smiled so wide her cheeks hurt. The driver stood to one side, apologizing to everyone again.

“You were under the speed limit, and not all vehicles are fitted with those handy reverse cameras. Accidents happen, we’re all okay," Steve explained, hoping to alleviate the driver's obvious anxiety.

The driver broke away and slowly returned to his van, still clearly rattled.

Chloe looped her arm through Steve’s and walked them back to their rug. “So that’s what Captain America looks like in action,” she teased lightly.

Steve ducked his head and rubbed his neck. “I’m just glad I got him in time. That van is built harder than it looks.” He rolled his shoulder experimentally.

After she sat him down, she demanded he left his sweater. She traced her fingers gently around the reddened area over his left shoulder blade. “That’s gonna leave an impressive bruise.”

Steve turned his head and beamed at her with a broad smile, his eyes bright. “Worth it,” he said without a trace of regret.

A family was going home safe and unharmed because of his quick and selfless action. He wasn’t invulnerable, but he didn’t let that stop him. Watching him with those children, the ease in which he cared for them, the fond look in his eye when he glanced at the dozing baby that had slept through the entire ruckus. She could picture Steve with a baby in his arms, the child utterly content and sleeping, feeling safe within the shelter of his father’s strong embrace.

Feeling her eyes burning, she lowered the hem of his sweater and pressed her face between his shoulder blades and wrapped her arms around him. “You have the heart of a hero, Steve. Don’t let anyone make you believe otherwise.”

::: ::: :::

Steve watched the myriad of emotions flicker over her face as he held her. She still struggled with her walls. The more time they spent together, the more he saw of the unguarded Chloe shine through. And it was breathtaking. She was so full of warmth. It was easy for her to hope, despite the way part of her fiercely championed for her to protect herself. In her heart, she never failed to see the good in people. It was part of her character. Chloe was kind, selfless, patient and seemed to have this limitless ability to push forward. He didn’t know how she managed it, although he suspected it might have to do with the copious amounts of coffee she consumed. Day or night, she never ignored anyone who needed something from her. Emails, phone calls, the mysterious gusts of wind that he knew had to be a speedster dropping by and the strangest moments. He never saw anyone, but boxes or equipment that appeared and disappeared while they’d been on their trip could only be attributed to a powered individual making home deliveries.

He knew it would take time to win her heart, but he worried that they wouldn’t have enough time together for him to show her that he could be trusted not to hurt her. If he believed that she wouldn’t run, he would have asked her to marry him the day he’d seen her again in New York. Her smile had given him tingles all the way to his toes and he knew in that moment, he’d give anything to be able to come home to her smile. She could make him forget his own name when she gave him that teasing half smirk, when he’d inadvertently said something that revealed how antiquated he was. It didn’t bother her that he was from an era before she was born. If anything, she enjoyed picking his brains about it every chance she got.

“I like that I have my own historical reference point. If we can’t learn from the mistakes of the past, we’re doomed to repeat those mistakes. And have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy admiring your handwriting. Lois told you how I like to visit the signature wall at every Ripley’s we see, didn’t she?”

Steve could only nod, his ears turning a little red. He’d taken to deliberately writing her little notes if he had to go out before she got up, or if she was busy on the phone and he was going to step out for gas or food. He wasn’t always there to see her reaction, but the few times he did had him wishing he could be a fly on the wall when she read them. Her eyes flicked over the scrap of paper. Her eyes brightening with every word, her lips blooming with a secretive smile while she held the note to her chest.

He would never again think badly over the memory of rapped knuckles over the many times his teacher had smacked him with her ruler when he didn't get his cursive letters perfectly joined and neatly spaced.

"Big screen celebrities these days just don't have the same style,” she had said by way of explanation over her written-word fetish. “Those autographs have star quality. There's elegance and class in the way they write. It's like looking at art," she had remarked. "I'd line up around a block for yours, Steve," she said with a playful wink. "But I didn't even have to ask." She tucked his note into her journal, and she leaned up standing on her toes to his his cheek. "Keep 'em coming."

He grinned down at her. "Yes, ma'am."

The smack on the behind she gave him had him wishing she hadn't been holding her journal and it had been her hand instead. There was always next time.

::: ::: :::

"Go dancing with me," he said against the shell of her ear.

Her heart rate picked up and started thumping wildly in her chest. She knew what he really wanted to say and the thought terrified her.

Years ago, when she was a freshmen in college and she still believed in soul mates and happily ever after, a man like Steve sweeping her off her feet wanting to marry her, she would have said yes in a heartbeat. He didn't want to run her life. He accepted her for who she was. He embraced her quirky family, well he hadn't met them all yet but if his easy camaraderie with Lois was any indication, Clark, Martha and Uncle Sam would throw them an engagement party on the spot.

Unconsciously her fingers tightened and trembled around his. She felt his lips on her cheek. He lingered there letting his warmth seep into her skin, chasing away the chill.

"Just regular dancing, you and me. I've waited a long time for the right girl. I want you to be, my girl," he said pulling her closer so that she was half resting on his chest as he leaned back.

In his arms, where she felt small, sheltered and tucked away from everything but the comfort of his strength, the warmth he never failed share and the enticing scent of him, Chloe found it impossible to muster the will to do anything but snuggle him back. She angled her head so she could see his face. "What do we do about our jobs?"

Steve kissed her hair, burying his nose in the cherry blossom scent. "Mission comes first. Your work is important and as long as I have my strength, I'm going to put it to good use. I'll never hold you back."

"Neither will, I but our personal choices and sense of duty won't mean much in the eyes of the higher ups."

"What we do together in our off hours is none of their business," Steve said firmly.

"They won't see it that way," Chloe argued.

Steve hugged her tight. "It's late. Stay tonight, don't catch the train yet."

Chloe tugged his jacket collar and pressed her lips against his neck. "You're going to get me in so much trouble one of these days."

"Never," he teased. "People think I'm too much of a Boy Scout."

Chloe snorted. "Every Boy Scout I've ever met has a wild side. Although I do recall Superman saying he never actually joined Cubs as a kid."

Not for the first time, Steve found himself a little envious of the obvious closeness of the pair. From what he'd gleaned observing her while she worked and what she'd revealed in passing, they worked together regularly and he'd even seen the caped hero speaking to Chloe in a side street on their way through Cincinnati. They seemed to have been having an animated conversation about something. Seeing her petite 5'5 frame stand toe to toe with a 6'4 invulnerable, broad shouldered man that made a seasoned linebacker look small and could bend steel with his bare hands was a sight to behold. It was also hard to miss the parting hug that Superman had given her. He swept her up in an all encompassing hug, Chloe disappearing from view with his arms and cape swallowing her up. Neither of their feet were touching the ground for a moment. He was hovering. He set her down with obvious reluctance and kissed her on the forehead before soaring up into the night sky.

Steve wondered why it was that they weren't more than friends and working partners. Or if it was Chloe herself that kept the relationship as it was. Seeing how well she guarded her heart, Steve wondered if he was the only one bold enough or stubborn enough to challenge her defences. In his opinion anything in life as rare and unique as Chloe was worth risking everything for. He'd learned too late that life favoured those brave enough to take risks. To reach out and grab what they wanted. To fight for love and life rather than let the opportunity pass you by.

He wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

As they climbed the stairs to his tiny apartment, pausing every second step to taste each other, he couldn't help thinking that she while she was kissing him and running her hands all over him, that she was saying goodbye.

The desperation in her kisses and the firm and decisive way she held him, stabbed at his heart. It was at odds with everything she’d been doing for the past two weeks.

So when she pushed him up against the door and devoured his mouth like she was questing for the truth of the universe, he put his hands on her hips and set her back slowly. His body screaming at him while he did so. "Baby, this isn't slow," he reminded her softly, tucking her hair behind her ear and kissing her forehead.

Chloe pressed her face against his neck and he could feel her trembling. He hugged her firmly, showing her just how much he wanted her but not when she felt that it was because they we're out of time.

He didn't want to rush with her. He didn't want her to have any regrets and most of all he didn't want it to be goodbye.

Keeping her tucked close he fumbled blindly behind his back for the knob and unlocked the door. His attention preoccupied on the woman in his arms, he missed that his neighbor's door was slightly ajar.

They'd explored every facet of second base and stretched the boundaries a good bit that night. He was both relieved and impressed by his restraint yet kicking himself that he hadn't told her exactly how he felt.

He was in love with her. And now he wasn't even sure when he would be able to see her again. He thought he'd learned his lesson on playing it cautious and second guessing with Peggy. He'd waited too long. Even though they had dated, and he'd shared some intimate moments with her, it still felt like he'd missed an opportunity. He didn't even know if she would ever wake up. His only hope was Lois, who called or texted him almost every day to keep him updated on Chloe's condition. She was still in a coma but she was stable and breathing fine in her own.

He'd met a fellow runner in his second month back from vacation. The man had told him that normally he started an hour later so that it was a little warmer and his knees wouldn't give him trouble but he got tired of trying to dodge pram joggers and cyclists, so he switched times. After that Steve saw him regularly. At first when the man seemed to like talking, he slowed his pace and made the circuit a leisurely jog but when it became obvious that even that was stretching his fitness capability, he was getting winded and cramped, Sam had given up on conversion and waved him on.

"Just go, man. I'm only hampering your run and you're making me look ridiculous. I've done this since I was kid. But you, how can you not feel the burn?"

So it became a game. Because in Steve's opinion Sam would have been better off getting him to slow down his pace, hence making him look like he could keep up with a Super Soldier, than letting him rack it up to 80% power and breezing past him repeatedly.

"On your left."


End file.
